Spotlight Detail

Second Annual Spotlight Showcase

This Year's Alum Honoree Sheldon Chau, Cinematographer and Director

Sheldon Chau was born and raised in Los Angeles and is of Cantonese descent. He first discovered his greater passion for films in high school when he was introduced to the Criterion Collection DVDs by both his artist uncle and his drama teacher.
 
As a Film and Media Studies major at the University of California, Irvine, Sheldon won the Nira Kozak Roston, Daniel Ethan, and Elena Suzanne Film Studies Award for his essay on Zhang Yimou’s Raise the Red Lantern. He also studied a year abroad in Hong Kong. Upon his return, Sheldon worked as a Production Tech for the Department of Film and Media Studies. Sheldon earned his BA in Film & Media Studies at the UCI in 2010, graduating Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa.  Afterwards he was further inspired by the power of storytelling around this time when he learned of his parents’ tale of survival in which they fled Vietnam in the aftermath of the war. Heartbreaking yet riveting, this knowledge motivated Sheldon to discover a passion in exploring stories through drama, emotion and visuals. He then decided to fully pursue filmmaking at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where he earned his MFA and specialized in cinematography in addition to directing his own films.

Sheldon was the winner of the 2015 ARRI Volker Bahnemann Award for Cinematography and has had his work recently screened at major festivals such as Sundance, Toronto, Venice, Los Angeles and Tribeca. The AT&T/Tribeca Film Institute produced film, NIGERIAN PRINCE (winner of the inaugural one million dollar grant competition), in which Sheldon served as cinematographer, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released theatrically in the fall of 2018. Another feature he shot, FISH BONES, made its premiere at Slamdance and is now making its festival rounds. His upcoming feature credits include the IFP-supported NHOMLAAU (shot in NYC), XY Media's SUMMER KNIGHT (shot in Chengdu,China) and NAFI'S FATHER, a film set in Senegal that went through the TIFF Labs at Toronto. As a cinematographer, Sheldon continues to seek stories that move him; ones that are evocative, personal, and emotionally resonant.
 
Sheldon is currently based in New York City and is a proud owner of a 14 year-old black pug named Milford.
 
Click on the link below to view Sheldon Chau's cinematography reel showcasing the last two years of feature shots in Nigeria, New York, China and Senegal.
 https://vimeo.com/316963133